The August
by FFG-559 August
Summary: A Remembrance-class kicks the dust off her boots and rejoins the fight. Most likely will not be continued.


Despite her current condition, she still found herself operational, and able to fight no less. Even as the covies tore into her armor, even as they sent wave after wave of spacecraft, she pulled through. Now she was left, smoldering and venting atmosphere. She wasn't surprised though, she was a Remembrance-class. A symbol, well-known, easily produced...

 _Easily destructible._

So as the UNSC FFG(L)-559 _August_ slowly began to succumb to it's damaged systems, it saw a light. Specifically, the light of a Slipspace rupture. She wanted to go, but she had no control, did she? She let the crew and A.I do that, but they were dead or... Well, dead. The pods wouldn't provide any salvation, there was no allied forces in the area. So who opened up the gates? She'd tear herself apart, she felt it happening now, in fact, in fact. She felt herself becoming smaller, why did she feel so calm? She could see the end of the tunnel as a engine bay tore itself off and into the walls of slipspace, ending up godknowswhere.

* * *

A small rural colony world sat, non-cataloged by UNSC or anyone else, really. The citizens, believing that being separated from the UNSC would spare them from the Covenant, continued on their merry way. No such luck.

Now the sirens blared as a corvette descended on the small colony, ready to turn it into but a distant memory. Many stood and resigned to their fate, looking up at the belly of the beast. As it dropped it's shields, a flash of light soared through, splitting the Covenant vessel in half as the projectile continued into the dirt, it's impact rumbling the earth. If one was to look at the sight, they would find it's crater miles into the ground, water pouring over the edges by the nearby ocean. Much didn't remain, but what did was a bent and burnt piece of Titanium-A plating, with the UNSC's insignia on the side. The mayor, believing that the UNSC knew of their presence and even helped them, folded into the UNSC, surprising them greatly.

* * *

The universe seemed to become alive, as an ancient vessel reawakens, the age-old reactors sputtering before reactivating, as weapons systems reengaged, bullets loaded into the chambers. _August_ reopened her eyes, a brilliant ember, as her sensors returned in a burst of static. She was surrounded in darkness, even as that was slowly being taken by light. She felt her reactors finally came online to their fullest extent, powering everything to it's maximum. That included her M.A.C, which glowed slightly, even as she hasn't given it the command. She felt strangely powerful, as if she could take on the universe, a feeling that she'd never felt, being a Remembrance-class Light Frigate didn't really give room for that, and having the highest fatality rate in the UNSC didn't help matters either. She wouldn't dwell on that, she was alive, able to serve once again as a proud warship that she was serviced to be. She didn't waste time as she activated her Slipspace drive, setting course for a home of which was comparable to Earth.

Reach. She was stationed there, though she was ultimately reassigned to distant worlds in a futile effort to keep the frontlines from shrinking further then they already had. That led to her doom, and that of her crew. For only a second, she felt dark tendrils creeping in the back of her mind as doubt became apparent. Why should she... No, she was a proud warship of the UNSC! Thoughts like that were unacceptable!

Yet. As she continued on her path, she couldn't help but think. Why should she help the people who were almost directly responsible for her, and by extension her crews', death. She compartmentalized those thoughts for a later time. She made her way, back to her home port. Epsilon station, oh those poor S. when they see her again! Of course, she didn't want to get ONI'd. She always felt a tad bit nervous whenever one came on board, from a mix of her crews self-doubts and her look-overs on the databases. Now that she was comparably... _Different_ , from the rest of her fellow warships, she'd be Section Three'd in close to no time at all. She'd actually most-likely be killed under the saw, though it wouldn't be for a 'medical mistake', she'd probably be considered a threat to humanity by ONI for, at least, a year or so. Her complicated experimental prediction analysis machine fed her these conclusions, even if all it now ran on was what she could reason and what she thought personally. That wasn't what it was meant for though, it was to predict enemy fleet or troop movements, after many years of refining the equipment in an effort for frigates be 'worth a damn' as her dear ol' captain put it in oh so colorful terms as he usually did. It was heart wrenching when he was killed by a plasma bolt mid battle from a boarding party. Sure, it was fended off, but left a lot of good people dead in their wake. _August_ grimaced slightly. It was hell on Earth, watching her crew get massacred. Her train of thought came to a screeching halt as she exited from slipspace. Reach was before her, but not in the way she imagined. A quarter of the planet was burned with red lines, as if hell came topside. Fighting, regardless of the devastation on the planet, continued to slug it out with several unknowns. They weren't Covenant, she'd know the difference, having rammed nose-first into one (Which left her in the repair bays for a month or so), so she'd have fair reason to know when they were or not. She charged her engines, and sped forward, already engaging locks on her targets. Her CIWS would take out the smaller of the hostile craft, while her missiles and M.A.C targeted one of the smallest ships in the fleet. What did she expect? That the strongest of the ships would suddenly find itself weak against a most likely outdated armaments of a Remembrance-class? She already had her MAC Cannon out, particles gathering near the barrel as she held it like a rifle, and she was surprisingly comfortable with that. Her arms already moved to center on her predetermined target. Her view was overlayed with firing arcs, predicted missile impacts, armament readouts, radar, as well as what orbiting space stations were readily onlinein her database. The two stations that were displayed by her databases were showing signs of inactivity, and sections were missing all together. _Mothballed._ She thought. She still charged forward none-the-less. Her M.A.C fired, it's charge at 100%.

It closed it's distance almost immediately, arcing into the enemy vessel. And _August_ watched as it was gutted, electronics and other debris sucked out of the inside, and she scrambled to reassign attack vectors to her missiles, which suddenly changed course. The explosions ripped across another hull as a frigate took the chance in the midst of a small pause when one of the enemy ships were mysteriously and suddenly gutted, and was pelted with plasma in return, obliterated almost instantly. _Autumn_ felt her rage build a bit, and she charged forward faster, feeling the power from before build, this time fueled by vengeance rather than hope. She watched her missiles make impacts, making deep craters that caused the hull to roll and eventually explode at it's sustained damages. _August_ halted, as she made her presence much more known when her CIWS cut down several alien bomber and fighter craft. She launched more missiles into another target, the biggest of the fleet. The reinforced armor cratered and even flew off entirely in some sections, as the obvious command vessels' escorts trained their weapons on the little menace that decided to rear her little head. _August_ soon was encompassed in enemy fire, burning plasma seared past her as she ducked and rolled, using her newly found ability to twist around projectiles that would've hit her had she been still for just a small millisecond longer. Her guns roared in defiance, littering countless hulls from both small to large alike, none spared mercy from the little devil's lightning strikes. The defending fleet, noticing that less fire was pointed their way, made sure the enemy regretted it, unloading rounds after rounds, missile salvo after missile salvo, MAC shell after MAC shell, and obliterated smaller vessels, while bringing attention off the remnants of the fleet's savior. The teamwork between the two allied forces soon showed, as the heavier assets of the enemies couldn't focus all their fire on the new enemy, or risk taking a heavy beating from the enemy fleet, and they couldn't focus on the enemy fleet, for the same reason as the first, just vice versa, and it couldn't split it's fire, it just wouldn't be enough. The enemy fleet decided to fire off at _August_ for a few minutes, before redirecting the fire at the fleet, and then they trained their weapons on her.

Meanwhile, the UNSC fleet were deadset on finishing the Abyssals. An explosion near one of the hulls suddenly flashed into existence, and the UNSC found themselves, once again, under the heavy fire the abyssals seemed so capable of handing out. A frigate, _Stars_ , blew itself apart off the side of the CA-552 _Second Sun_ , and the crew offered a quick prayer before resuming to attempt to beat the few remaining ships. A plasma shot grazed the hull, and another M.A.C shell was launched, with another already being loaded into the barrel. Another enemy Abyssal found itself lost to the void as a Shiva impacted its already damaged hull, nothing but small debris left. With a roar, a final MAC shell was launched, soundlessly screaming towards the target, the damaged capital ship.

The shield was dropped by the salvo that their mysterious savior fired, so the MAC round made extensive damage through the hull. The threat was ended in the span of a week, and many were lost, one of the orbital Super MAC stations was proof of that, riddled with craters holes, as well as separated in two sections, along with many of the numerous wrecks, some of which were falling into atmosphere of the slightly burnt world. A pelican was dispatched to gather any available information on the wrecks, as well as find the tiny savior that seemed to appear from thin air... Or space, or whatever.


End file.
